Transformation: The Clandestine Saga Book 1 (25 page)

              After spending the majority of the morning getting commitments from his French connections, he finally decided to call in his own people and go over the plan with them. Stormy hadn’t made it into town yet, but she should be there soon. He was also missing Cadence, of course, but he could fill her in later. He hoped she’d be willing to come back either this evening or tomorrow so they could get to Paris and get this over with, but he had given her a few days off and if she intended to use them, he certainly wasn’t going to argue. Technically, she was still suspended and Elliott and Christian were on a team that didn't follow protocol, which meant they should miss the next hunt. Rather than bend the rules on that last one, he actually organized a hunt for that evening, one he would also not be attending, so that he could say Elliott and Christian had sat one out. And since Cadence was the only one who had any idea that she had been given a few days, or a suspension, or whatever one might want to call it, it really didn’t matter if she decided to come back sooner.

              He had set the briefing for 4:00 that afternoon and had decided to have it in his own office, rather than the room they usually used. After last night’s shenanigans, he decided they needed a change of scenery. Everyone was on time, as always, and he was able to get started right away. He knew Cadence was still in the process of getting Jack to the doctor so she wouldn’t even have he IAC tuned in, but Stormy did and she was viewing the meeting from his perspective and Elliott’s.

              “Alright, good afternoon, everyone,” he began once everyone took their seats. “The reason I called you all in today is because I’ve hand selected you to go on a high priority trip to Paris.” He waited for the cheering to stop and then continued. “We are going to kill Vampires, not for the shopping or the sight seeing, just so you know.”  Eliza groaned disappointedly. “I know. It’s terrible. Okay then. This is our primary target,” he said bringing up a recent picture of Holland.  “All of you were present at the recent protection mission we participated in in Iowa, except for Christian and Stormy, who we have on IAC, so the rest of you know her well. This is Holland. Approximate age is 1200-1400, extended clan size numbers in the thousands but her primary clan is estimated to be between 20-30. “ There were some gasps from the team members who were really good at math so he paused to explain.

              “We will have quite a few French team members working with us as well. I know you’re all counting and trying to figure out the ratio. Chances are we will still be outnumbered, but that’s nothing new. We’re used to that, and most of her primary clan members are young. And we all know that young basically equals stupid.”

              They all verbally agreed with that, so he continued. “This is what we will refer to as Location 1. It is an extremely popular burlesque strip club; I’ll wait for the catcalls to stop, thank you, called Le Doll, located on Rue St. Denis.  This is the location where our informant, Sebastian, a Turncoat Vampire, has witnessed Holland and several of her minions hanging out over the past few days and actually quite a bit last summer as well. And to ease the consciences of those of you who are wondering why we would fly all the way to France based on the hunch of a Turncoat, these three young ladies are Hunters who have recently taken positions—no pun intended—in the strip club so they can better keep an eye on Holland and her comings and goings. “ Turning to the picture, he said, “That’s Chantal, the middle girl with the blond hair is Genevieve, and the one on the end is Sabin.” He noticed Jamie’s hand was raised so he paused, “Yes, Jamie?”

              “If I kill Holland, can I have one of those?” he asked gesturing at the picture.

              “Well, they are strippers, so, quite possibly,” Aaron replied, deciding to allow a little more fun into their brief this time since they were going to Paris and his old methods had not been working so well recently.

              “Everybody has a price,” Elliott chimed in.

              “Not everybody,” Eliza said, wagging her head.

              “Anyway,” Aaron continued, “I was able to procure some pretty valuable information from these three ladies this afternoon, and they are more than willing to work with us. They are a small team, just the three of them, without a lot of Guardian support, so they operate basically as informants to larger operations, such as our team.  But they are always excited to get in on a hunt. Questions about that? No? Okay, good.”

              He pulled up the last slide, “Okay, this is an abandoned warehouse, known as Le Vieux Moulin, which is designated as Location 2, should we need a secondary location.  It’s located fairly close to Location 1 and this is the place where Sebastian believes Holland and her clan are staying.  I am working on getting more information about the interior of this building, but I do not have that yet. It would be nice if we can engage Holland and her clan here because it allows for less human interaction, but we may be reactive here, depending upon what she chooses to do. Any questions about that?”

              Seeing that there were no hands, Aaron moved on. “As of right now, we are waiting on Stormy to arrive. I have sent a plane to retrieve her from California, so she will be here later this evening. We will also be waiting on Cadence, who is visiting a sick friend.” He noticed the eyebrow raising and head swiveling but didn’t acknowledge it. If anyone wanted to ask him why he had decided to take her, they could feel free to do so. Otherwise, the situation was between the two of them, though, he was pretty sure Elliott would want to talk about it. “So as soon as they are both here, I will let you know what our travel schedule is. We will get things moving as quickly as possible.  Alright, if you don’t have any questions then you can go. Thanks everyone.”

              Christian was the first one out the door, a wide smile on his face. Aaron knew he would be happy he had reinstated Cadence, and he didn’t have a problem with that. Of course, he had no way of knowing exactly how happy Christian truly was.

As the rest of the team exited, poor Jamie was getting an ear full from Eliza regarding the best shoe shopping in Paris.  He threw Aaron a look that seemed to say, “Help me!” as she rattled on about Louboutin versus Yves Saint Lourent.

But Elliott stayed, as Aaron knew he would. 

              “I thought you took Ms. Vampire-Slayer off the rotation for a while, my friend.  What gives?”

              Aaron was straightening up the file he had started for this case and the rest of his desk. “Well, Elliott, I’ve reviewed some research since I talked to Cadence last night, some scientific studies regarding DNA coding and instinctive nature in Hunters, and it turns out, she had a valid point.”

              “What was that? My grandparents were leaders so I don’t have to listen to anybody?” Elliott asked sarcastically.

              Aaron’s patience was wearing thin, even with his best friend. “Well, yesterday you were telling me you thought she acted that way because we were dating—which we weren’t by the way—and now you think it’s something else?” He could feel the tension rising in his voice and he knew he was about to lose what little patience he had left.  “Since you’re the expert on Cadence’s decision making, why don’t you just go ahead and explain everything to me now? That way I’ll know what to expect next time.”

              Elliott began to realize he had pushed too far.  He needed to reverse the tide quickly. “Woe, alright now, calm down,” he said in a serene voice. “You’re the boss. You want to take her with us, take her with us. I just hope you’re doing it for the right reasons, man, that’s all.”

              “Believe me, I am,” Aaron assured him.  “I basically told her last night that I was no longer dating my subordinates.  Now, in retrospect, I realize I not only acted like a total jackass but also like an idiot, because you know what Elliott, I like her. I do. And you let me convince myself that, just because I’ve had a few situations go bad, I shouldn’t even give her a chance. Well that was really, really dumb of me and now she’s at her ex-boyfriend’s so, there you go.”

              “Are you saying it’s my fault that you broke up with her?” Elliott asked, suddenly on the defensive again. “Cause you’re a big boy and you can make your own decision. I didn’t tell you what to do.”

              “Oh, you’re right, Mr. Used-Car-Salesmen. It was completely my decision. You had no input whatsoever.”

              “Are you saying you think I hypnotized you into breaking up with her? Because that is absolutely ridiculous,” Elliott said defensively.

That really wasn’t what Aaron thought at all.  He was aware that Elliott had a way of influencing his decision-making even without using his gifts. However, he was done with the conversation and was ready to move on to other things, such as checking in on Cadence. “You know, I think it would probably be best if we just ended this discussion right now, alright? I’ve got a lot of work to do, and I’m sure you do, too, so let’s just let it go. It doesn’t matter now anyway, alright?

Elliott sighed and nodded his head. “Alright, brother. As long as you understand that I always have your best interested at heart. I hope you know that.”

              Aaron slowly exhaled.  He really couldn’t argue with that, though Elliott’s decision-making method was much different than his own and sometimes ended up leading them down paths he would have never gone without his influence. “I know,” he said. “I know.”

              Elliott patted him on the back and made his way out of his office. Aaron had plenty of work to do but he really wanted to know how Cadence was doing and what the doctor had to say about Jack. He checked the time.  The doctor’s office would be closing soon, so if he didn’t hear from her within the next half-hour or so, that would be a pretty good indicator that he’d been sent to the hospital.

                            ***

              Cadence hadn’t even gotten Jack fully across the threshold and into the waiting room when the receptionist came running over to help, alerting the nurse to get Dr. Matthew’s “stat.” The older woman attempted to help Cadence lead him to a nearby chair, though Cadence knew she was really moving him herself. Dr. Matthews was out in just a few seconds, stethoscope in one hand, black bag in the other. 

              Jack’s face was almost as white as the doctor’s lab coat now and his eyes were glazed over.  Cadence stood beside him, holding him back in the chair, afraid that, otherwise he might slide right out.

              Dr. Matthews listened briefly to his heartbeat and his lungs. “How long has he been like this?” he asked Cadence.

              “I’m not sure. He called me this morning, said he was sick, and I flew in from Kansas City.”

              “Has he been out of the country recently?” he asked.

              “No, never,” Cadence replied.

              “Anyone else in his family sick? Roommate? You?”

              “I haven’t been able to get ahold of his family, and I haven’t seen his roommate all day. I’m fine.”

              “Alright, well, I think we need to go ahead and call an ambulance and have him transported to Bryan Health. Shirley, will you make that call please?” he asked the receptionist. “I’m sorry, miss, I just don’t think there’s anything much I can do for him here. We’ll get him over to the hospital where they can run some tests and see what might be wrong."

              “Okay,” Cadence said, trying to keep it together. She had thought earlier, when he was able to hold a conversation that, once she got him to the doctor, he would probably be fine.  Now, he couldn’t even hold his head, up and she was becoming more and more concerned by the moment.

              She sat down in the chair next to him, propping him up the best she could.  She realized her phone was ringing, but she wasn’t sure how to get it out of her pocket while still keeping him in his chair. She was afraid it might be his parents so she momentarily let go of him in order to answer it.  Even removing her hand for a moment caused him to slouch, and she had to act quickly to keep him from tumbling onto the floor. Clearly, this was a serious situation, and she was hopeful the ambulance would be there soon.

              Answering the phone, she said “Mrs. Cook? Thank, God. You need to get to Lincoln right away.”

                            ***

              The doctors at Bryan Health had said they thought it was some form of a blood infection. They had never seen anything like it. They had started him on several high dosages of medication as well as an antibiotic and several other drugs Cadence had never heard of. His parents had arrived about an hour after he was admitted, and the doctor explained that they hoped to see some quick improvement, otherwise, they would need to put him in a medically induced coma so that they could better monitor his response to the medication.

              Cadence knew that the rest of their group of friends was on the way, but she didn’t know exactly when they would arrive. She still hadn’t had a chance to call Aaron, which she felt bad about, but she wanted to stay near Jack’s bed, just in case he woke up. She also thought she should check in with Christian and so she sent him a brief update via IAC while the doctors were working on Jack.

              Around 6:30, Jack’s parents went to grab some dinner, and it was only a few minutes after they left that he began to flutter his eyes. She grabbed her phone to send them a text to tell them to return. Looking up, she realized he was looking right at her. “Hi, Jack,” she said reaching out and taking his hand. “How are you doing?”